ALEXANDER ZVEREV earned £1.1million at the Six Kings Slam despite losing in just 59 minutes.
The world No3 fell to 6-3 6-4 to Taylor Fritz during a lifeless opening night at the mega-money Saudi event.
Participants have reportedly been promised a £1.1m fee just for showing up in Riyadh, with the winner of the event pocketing a further £3.4m.
This year’s champion will NOT be Zverev, after he crashed out to his bogeyman Fritz.
The lanky German, 28, has now lost seven times in a row to Fritz, although this exhibition encounter will not count towards their official head-to-head.
Zverev has been struggling with a shoulder issue and served with noticeably less power than usual on this occasion.
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The Australian Open finalist pocketed around £900,000 for his brilliant run in Melbourne this year – around £200k less than he did for his shoddy Saudi effort this week.
Zverev has struggled for form of late and has not reached a final since June.
On that occasion he also lost to Fritz, although battled much harder then than he did this week despite falling 6-3 7-6 on home soil in Stuttgart.
After that match, Zverev said “I’m f***ing tired of you” to Fritz during his on-court runner-up speech.
In Wednesday night’s second semi-final, Stefanos Tsitsipas barely lasted much longer than Zverev.
The Greek, who was drafted in as a replacement for injured Brit Jack Draper, lost 6-2 6-3 to Jannik Sinner in 76 minutes, and will also pocket £1.1m.
Sinner, who was approached by a fan on court after the match following shoddy security work, will take on Novak Djokovic in this evening’s semi-finals, with the legendary Serb having received a bye.
Fritz, meanwhile, faces the daunting prospect of battling Carlos Alcaraz, who has not played since beating the American in the Tokyo final last month.
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